Sommerfeld tracking

[3] Kurt Sommerfeld developed the track in the workshops of D.Mackay engineering based in East Road Cambridge.

The rolls could be joined at the edges by threading flat steel bar through loops in the ends of the rods.

[3] Sommerfeld tracking was used extensively by the Royal Air Force in the Second World War to make runways at their airfields, as it could be deployed quickly.

The ground was cleared and, if swampy, a layer of coir (also known as coco peat) or coconut matting laid down.

It would appear that this method did have some limitations and there are various reports of airfields being out of use during heavy rainfall due to mud, and the fact that the tracking would lift off the ground.

US Army Engineers laying Sommerfield tracking in the sand during a landing exercise at Camp Edwards , Massachusetts , United States, 1942.
A jeep comes ashore onto Sommerfield tracking during a landing exercise at Camp Edwards , Massachusetts , United States, 1942.
Rolls of Sommerfield tracking can be seen in the foreground during a landing exercise at Slapton Sands , Devon , England, April 1944.